Of Brothers and Of Clones
by MagicQuill42
Summary: 5 years after Callahan is put in jail, the team is taking care of a portal problem, when something unexpected comes out. Tadasi tries to reconcile with missing five years of Hiro's life, while Hiro struggles to keep his super-heroing a secret from his older brother.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one: Something Strange

"Hiro?"

Hiro groaned in his sleep.

"Not now Baymax." He said as he attempted to ignore the nurse bot.

"Hiro?" Baymax persisted. "It has reached the time of six-thirty.

Hiro cracked open one eye. "Yeah, well maybe I sleep is better for my health." He closed his eye again.

Suddenly he felt himself being lifted out of bed by squishy arms.

"Ahhh! Baymax! Put me down!"

"I was told by your aunt to awaken you." Baymax cocked his head to the side. "I was informed to do this anyway necessary." He set Hiro down.

"Well you certainly achieved that." Hiro yawned.

He looked around his workshop, which he had fallen asleep in the previous night. He'd finally finished the new alarm system, wiring the news, police stations, and telephone lines into the Big Hero Six Head Quarters. If anything happened, they would know.

He walked over to the sink, Baymax waddling behind him. He rinsed the sleep out of his eyes, glancing at his friend in the mirror.

"You're scanning me aren't you?"

A pause followed, then "Confirmed."

"Well?"

"You are suffering from high levels of sleep loss. Prescription: Rest."

Hiro sighed. "I know, I know. But as of now, I can't. I have too much to do, between school, the team, and helping Aunt Cass at the café…"

He trailed off. Things had been hard lately. Graduation was coming up, so studies were getting harder. In addition, while crime rates were down- thanks to a certain super team- There was always that one idoit who thought robbery was an acceptable pastime.

Aunt Cass, bless her, understood the school stuff, but had yet to connect the dots between him, his friends, and the super team. Not because she was oblivious, but because she was overworked. Business was good, especially after the addition of Honey Lemon's baked goods to the menu.

The others helped out when they could, but they all had lives of their own. Go-Go ran a machine shop after school, Wasabi worked at a restrant halfway across town, Honey did all she could to supply sweet treats for the café, and Fred was attempting to learn how to assume his father's role for when the elderly man retired.

"I'm trying Baymax. Really, I am."

"Perhaps a fly around the city would raise your adrenaline levels?"

Hiro thought, then nodded. "Yeah, I need to get to school anyways."

They were halfway there when his helmet went off. An orange light up in the corner of his vision kept blinking.

"Baymax fly a bit lower." He activated his com. "Anyone in-suit? I've got a three-nighty..." He looked down. "Three-nighty-three, over by the bridge. Anyone want to join me?"

Honey Lemon's voice came through the headpiece. _"Love too! But can't. Brownies take a lot of work."_

_ "At work." _Go-Go said shortly.

"_Same here, sorry Hiro." _

Hiro felt his face fall. "No problem guys. Baymax and I can handle it. Just thought you guys might want to join in the fun."

_"I'll take that offer!" _Fred practically screamed. "_I'll be there. Which bridge?" _

_ "The red one, genius." _Go-Go snapped at him. "_You know, the landmark?"_ Hiro chuckled at the familiar antics.

_ "Oh! Right! Got it, be there soon little buddy." _

Hiro sighed. "Fred I'm 19. I don't 'little' is an accurate description anymore."

He waited for a response, but it didn't come. He guessed Fred must have been getting into costume. Rolling his eyes, he turned his attention to the matter at hand.

Three-nighty-three meant one of the Silent Sparrow portals, or Sparrows for short, was gliching. After the mircobots incident, Krei had decided to give the project a second go, this time waiting before sending someone through. Once it was a decided success, Sparrows had been set up throughout the city. It made transportation easier, but when they gliched it required more than a repair crew.

Sparrows were essentially doors to other dimensions. You went into that dimension, and through the door to where you wanted to go, so that it was three feet instead of three miles. It took a lot of effort to keep it them set correctly and when one gliched, it opened into another dimension, often with no way to get back through.

They landed next to the portal. The scene on the other side was supposed to be blue-white smoke- Krei had a thing for theatrics- but had turned a sickly yellow mixed with fiery red.

"Baymax, any life signs?"

"One, but it does not match any others in my data base of San Fransokyo residents."

"Hmmm. Well that's odd. Fred, we're heading in. Meet you on the outside, alright?"

"_You got it. I'm on my way now."_

"Ready buddy?"

"I am a robot. I am constantly prepared."

"Expressions, Baymax." Hiro rolled his eyes. "One of these days I'll make you a slang chip so I don't have to explain anymore."

"How would 'slang' make me a better healthcare companion?"

"Never mind, just take us in."

They crossed into the portal, into a world of flames.

"Whoa!" Hiro reeled back. "Baymax get us out of here!"

They ducked back out. "Your glutamate levels have risen sharply. Are you alright?"

Hiro shook his head, climbing off Baymax. "Yeah, I'm okay. It's just, the flames…" he shivered.

Ever since Tadasi, Hiro had had a fear of fire. Fred's fire was different; they would fizzle out quickly if he didn't relight them. But any other fire, anything that wasn't in a controlled environment, scared him half to death.

He felt Baymax's arms wrap around him, which wasn't the same in armor, but was comforting nonetheless.

"Maybe you should take this one alone, buddy."

Baymax relinquished him, and headed back through. Hiro stared at the portal, willing everything to go as planned. Fredzilla landing next him interrupted his thoughts.

"Hey, what'd I miss?" Fred asked. "I thought you were going through with Baymax."

Hiro shrugged. "I was. Turns out it's some kind of fire dimension or something. Figures."

"Hah! That's some coincidence." Fred laughed. "So what do you think caused it this time? Tuning? Ooo! Maybe it's been sabotaged!"

Hiro looked up at the structure. "Nah. Looks more like a wiring issue. Anyway, who'd want to sabotage a Sparrow? Its public transportation, it'd be like sabotaging a bus or a train."

"Exactly!" Fred exclaimed.

Hiro shook his head as Baymax came back out, carrying someone on his back. He and Fred raced over as Baymax set down his passenger.

Baymax rose, but continued to look at the man on the ground. His face was turned, so they couldn't see who he was, but Hiro could tell he wasn't in good shape.

"Baymax run a scan."

"I have already scanned him. He has inhaled too much smoke and has several burns on his back, abdomen, neck, and legs."

Hiro winced. "Fred, would you mind taking him to the hospital? …Fred?"

His friend was looking at the man on the other side.

"Hiro," he whispered, "you might want to see this."

Hiro came around to the other side of the victim, peering at his face. He jumped back in alarm. The face was covered in ash and soot, with burn marks creeping up his neck , but there was no mistaking it.

"Tadasi."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Awakening

Tadashi's eyes fluttered open. He struggled to place where he was. He looked at the IVs on his arm. IVs? They only put those on you if… He was in a hospital. The fire!

"HIRO!"  
He sat up, instantly regretting it as pain flared up his, well, everywhere. He thudded back down , groaning. A boy about his age strolled into his field of vision and sat on the bed.

He had messy black hair sticking up in every plausible direction, wide black eyes, and a crooked grin. He looked vaguely familiar. Maybe he was from the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, a classmate. That would explain it.

_Strange person to sit by my bedside._

"Hey." The boy said. "How you feeling?"

"Fine. For a person who just strolled through a volcano."

The boy laughed. "Yeah, you really scared us there."

"Hmmm…" Tadashi didn't really know what to say to that. "How's Callahan? Did he get out?"

The boy's face fell. "Callahan-He- It's complicated. I'll explain later."

They didn't speak for a moment. The boy kept looking at Tadashi and grinning. Suddenly, a sound from what Tadashi assumed was the doorway made the boy turn.

"Oh, good." He turned back. "Lunch."

He leapt off the bed, out of Tadashi's sight, and started talking to someone.

"Did you remember the gummy bear?"

"Too many sweets are bad for your health."

"Yeah, but did you bring some anyway?"

"…Yes."

That voice. He _knew_ that voice.

"Baymax?"

The plushy robot waddled over. "Tadashi. I was not informed you had awakened."

"Sorry." The other boy strolled back over. "Hunger drove all other thoughts from my head." He then opened a bag of gummy bears and began munching on them.

"Baymax, what are you doing here?"

"You are my patient." The android stated, as if that explained everything.

Tadashi winced as he sat up again, slowly this time.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I told him, I feel great for a guy who walked through a volcanic eruption."

There was a pause then Baymax laughed, an odd, mechanical sort of sound.

"Wha-Baymax! I didn't program you to do that!"

"I did." The other boy said proudly. "After so long of him 'not getting it' I installed a joke database, complete with laughing functions."

Tadashi felt his anger flare. What right did this person, this _amateur, _have to tamper with _his_ nurse bot? There was no reason for him to ever have so much as have been in his lab, much less tamper with one of his creations.

The boy saw Tadashi's expression and recoiled. Tadashi softened. He looked a lot younger that way. Also, a lot more familiar.

Realization dawned. This was no stranger he'd met in the halls. This wasn't a classmate facing him. This was someone he'd grown up with, someone he'd known all his life. Someone he'd dried with, laughed with, comforted, defended, and even been thrown in jail with.

"Hiro?" he asked quietly, afraid of the answer.

_**THERE! I fixed the misspell. **_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Explanation Please

Hiro mentally kicked himself. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy.

"Well, "Tadashi demanded. "How long have I been in a coma?"

"Um, you kind of haven't." Hiro rubbed the back of his neck.

Tadashi blinked. "I haven't? Then how are you…"

Hiro kicked himself again. "You've been dead, or presumed so, for about five years."

"Five years." Tadashi mouthed, eyes growing wide. He stared at the ceiling for a while.

Hiro cleared his throat. "The others are all good, getting on with their lives and such. The city hasn't changed that much, aside from the Sparrows. That's how we- how you were found, by the way." Tadashi looked up. "A Sparrow, one of the portals around the city, was malfunctioning. When the Big Hero Six went to fix it, they found you inside it."

Tadasi cocked an eyebrow. "The Big Hero Six?"

"Um, yeah." Hiro shifted on his feet nervously. "They showed up shortly after you… Anyways, they stopped a plot to kill Allister Krei. Ever since then they've been hanging around, fighting crime and stuff. They're pretty cool." He added.

"Oh."

Tadashi went back to looking at the ceiling. Suddenly a snort from the window made the both of them jump. They looked over to see Aunt Cass still snoring peacefully. Well, somewhat.

"Is that…" Tadashi looked a bit scared.

"That's Aunt Cass. You'll be grateful to know she hasn't changed very much."

It was true. Aunt Cass hadn't changed very much in appearance, besides the odd gray hair here and there. There were some crow's feet forming on her eyes, and some bags under them, but she hadn't changed as much as Hiro supposed he had.

"So…" Tadashi turned back. "How are… things."

"Things are…good. I'm graduating soon."

Tadashi's eyes widened again. "Graduating? Already? What's your degree in?"

Hiro raised an eyebrow. "What else, robotics."

"Oh, right. Duh."

There was another awkward silence. This was going to be difficult.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Adjustments

Tadashi had been in the hospital for months now, yet he was still failing to comprehend his situation. Five years. He had missed five years of his life. Not only his life, but Hiro and Cass's lives too. They'd thought he was dead, and not without reason, either. He'd run into a fire.

And now he was supposed to live with the information that the man he'd nearly died saving had gone full out supervillain. How was that going to be possible?

"Tadashi? You okay back there?" Hiro called from the driver's seat.

That was another thing that was going to take adjusting to. He had been expecting Aunt Cass to pick him up from the hospital, so when Hiro had showed up, he'd been more than a little surprised, though he was even more surprised to see Baymax squished into the passenger seat.

It seemed there wasn't a time when Hiro was separated from the nurse bot. At least they were close, though how that had come to pass Tadashi would question later.

They pulled into the driveway, and Tadashi was glad to see that the house hadn't changed much. The sign had been upgraded, it moved now, but that seemed to be all.

After pulling Baymax out, with no small difficulty, they walked in. Aunt Cass was serving what looked like six tables at once, with Honey-Lemon behind the counter dishing out more treats then typically humanly possible.

"Tadashi!" They both called.

"I'll be right there, boys." Aunt Cass called, as she set three plates on table seven. "Just let me finish these things up!"

The two boys wove through the crowd, making their way upstairs.

"We've been trying to get your things back in order." Hiro told him. "It's not exactly correct, but I think most everything is in its proper place."

They reached the top, and Tadashi was greeted by a miss-made bed, disheveled bookshelves, and drawers with clothes spilling out. With Mochi sitting right on top of the mess of blankets.

Tadashi laughed. "It's nothing I can't fix."

He started to make the bed. "So run the explanation by me one more time."

Hiro glanced up at him. "Run through what?"

"You know. How I'm… here."

"Oh, that. Well, Sparrow's just lead to dimensions,"

"Yeah, yeah. I got that part. How am I here?"

"Oh." Hiro blushed. "Well, when the Sparrow malfunctioned I think it created a sort of time loop/portal thing, allowing access to you. What I don't know is how it happened, or how to replicate it."

Tadashi put a shocked expression on his face. "What? You can't figure something out? I thought you were a super genius. Graduating high school at thirteen, and now collage at nineteen, I thought you were on a roll." He sighed dramatically. "Well, I guess you'll just have to give up on all your dreams."

He felt a shove from behind. Turning, he saw Hiro grinning at him. "Chill out. It's not the end of my career. I can still give any bot fighter out there a run for his-"

"BOT FIGHTERS?!" Tadashi yelled. "You've been bot-fighting again?! I thought you'd given that up. It's too dangerous for a kid…"

He trailed off as a realization hit him. Hiro was his age now, with his birthday coming up. His kid brother was about to pass him in age. He felt a pang in his heart.

He looked at Hiro, who was clearly realizing the same thing. Finally Tadashi cleared his throat.

"No more bot fights, okay?"

"Deal." Hiro walked back to his desk.

Tadashi went back to cleaning up. He picked Mochi up, and started to make the bed. Suddenly a blur of pink and yellow tackled him from behind.

"Tadashi!" Honey-Lemon squealed.

He chuckled. "Hey Honey."

"Ohmygosh! You're actually here!" She gripped his shoulder. "we all thought you were dead, I mean, for us you were, but now you're not! You're here!" she squealed again, then held him out at arm's length.

She had changed too, now that he got a good look at her. Her long blond hair had been cut to shoulder length, and her oversized pink glasses had shrunk a few inches. Her wardrobe also seemed a bit more muted, but other than that she seemed untouched by time.

"Wow." She murmured, suddenly quite. "You look…"

He supposed this was as big a shock, if not bigger, to the others as it was to him. While they had all gone from his age to older, it was the exact opposite for them.

Just then, Aunt Cass decided to make a timely appearance.

"Tadashi." She grinned. She walked over and gave him one of her famous, nerve soothing hugs. "I missed you."

"Aunt Cass, you visited me, like, every day in the hospital."

"I know." She sighed. "But I'm glad your back." She sniffled a bit.

Tadashi was hugging her back when he noticed Hiro trying to sneak out, Honey-Lemon right behind Baymax.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa." He pulled away from Aunt Cass. "Just where do you think you're going?"

"Our destination is 23rd and main." Baymax informed him while Hiro face-palmed.

"Uh-huh. And just what were you planning to do there?"

"We were going-"

"To see a customer!" Hiro interjected. "They wanted to make sure their brownies got there, so they asked for a hand delivery."

Tadashi raised an eyebrow, not buying it for a second.

"It's true!" Honey insisted. "I was going with him. To- uh, help. With the delivery."

"Okay." Tadashi said slowly. "Just make sure you get home in time for dinner, alright."

"Sounds good! Gotta go!'

They darted down the stairs as fast as their feet would carry them, pushing Baymax to make him go faster. Suspicious. Very suspicious.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: What's up

"A customer asking for hand delivered brownies? Smooth." Go-go said.

"I panicked, okay? It's hard enough to hide this from Aunt Cass. And she doesn't ask questions." Hiro paced the HQ floor.

They'd had to drop everything to address a fire at 23rd and main. Of course, the firemen could handle it, but they'd needed help to rescue civilians. The BH6 were now meeting up at their "headquarters." Otherwise known as Fred's basement.

Though it had started out as a storage room for old furniture, over time they'd added personal touches. Like Go-go's bike rack and Honey-lemon's treat rack. Hiro continued to add new bits of tech, and Wasabi kept the whole place tidy. Fred had decked the place out to look like a real headquarters, and now it was their typical meeting place.

Hiro sat down heavily on the sofa. "I don't know what I'm going to tell him."

Honey took off her helmet. "Um, maybe the truth?"

"Are you kidding?" Hiro glared at the ceiling. "The guy thinks bot-fighting is too dangerous for me. No way he'd let me keep being a hero."

"Well, to be fair, we've done this for five years. It's not like there's much he can do to stop you at this point." Wasabi called from the kitchenette.

"Believe me. He'd try."

"Well then. You need an alibi. OHOHOH!" Fred practically jumped up and down. "Even better. You need a secret identity.

Hiro rolled his eyes. "I do. It's called Hiro Hamada."

Fred scoffed. "That'll never work. It's too easy to see through it."

Honey-lemon walked over and sat next to Hiro. "Fred has a point."

"HA! See? I can have ideas."

Honey ignored him. "If you want to hide this," She gestured at the displayed suits. "You're going to need a disguise of some kind. We get a lot of camera's pointed at us, it's only because of that virus you planted the face recognizing software hasn't been able to see us."

"Honey has a point." Wasabi sat in the recliner, a bowl of noodles in his hand. "If Tadashi sees you on camera, he won't need software to see you."

Hiro sat up. "Then what am I going to do?"

It was silent for a while. Fred got out a pizza, which he then tripped and face planted into. Everyone laughed so hard Hiro almost missed his pinging phone.

"Hiro? Your cellular device is making a noise."

He grabbed it from the table. "Thanks Baymax. What's up?"

"Exactly how long does it take to go to 23rd and back?"

Hiro cringed. "Sorry, Dashi. I got a little sidetracked."

He heard Tadashi sigh on the other end. "Okay, where are you? I'll pick you up and we can go to that frozen yogurt place. …Are they still open?"

"Yo-Yo-Fro? Yeah they're open. I'm…" He hesitated. "I'm at Fred's. See you in a bit.'

"Kay, see you then."

Hiro looked up at his friends. "Whatever solution we're going to come up with, we need to do it sooner, rather than later."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Business as Unusual

Tadashi had been waiting at Fred's house for half an hour. Heathcliff had been slightly shocked to see him (his eyes had actually widened) but he appeared to be used to surprises. Tadashi had sat in the spacious lounge and started watching the news. Hiro had yet to show up. Tadashi was still adjusting to the 'modern' world, but he was pretty sure common courtesies like showing up or not giving your ride a false address were still valid.

He glanced up at the TV screen. It was showing the Big Hero 6 saving some kids from a fire. What was with those people? Did they think that overpowered suits gave them the ability to put their lives on the line? What about their families? Or whatever friends they had outside their clique?

He heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He snapped his head up to see Hiro walking towards him.

"About time. I've been waiting for-"

"I know, I know." Hiro winced. "And I'm sorry. We were working on some… new software, and I lost track of time."

Tadashi sighed. "Alright let's just-"

"Hang on." Hiro was staring at the screen, which was no longer showing footage of the Big Hero 6.

The picture on the screen was of a fire, or the remains of one. The suave news reporter was stating how no one had gotten hurt, but all the precious items and money had been stolen beforehand, leading the authorities to think it was sabotaged.

"The one witness claimed to see a man running in with a knife after the family left home. They didn't see him running back out, but no bodies were found at the scene. This criminal may still be at large. This is Walter Waters, signing out 'til Ten. Good-Afternoon, San Fransokyo!"

The screen went to black, but Hiro continued to stare at it.

"Wow, how awful. That poor family." Tadashi murmured.

Hiro didn't move.

"Hiro?"

"Why," Hiro whispered, barely audible. "Why didn't…" he trailed off.

"Why didn't what?"

Hiro looked over at him, thought it felt more like he was looking through him.

"Nothing. Came on, let's go get some Yo-Yo-Fro."

**Hello everybody! Wow, my first AN. Nice! I promised myself yesterday, that if I got 100 followers I'd try to do this. 101 will work. XD**

**What to say… Well, for starters I'm introducing a villain soon. I was going to go a different direction with him, but then I remembered the rating I put on this story. **

**As for the lateness of this chapter, my little sister's birthday was yesterday and I got side-tracked. I almost didn't update last week, but for… different reasons. **

**Shout-out to all my lovely reviewers, particularly AwesomeWriter2013. Your reviews make my day, guys. Love you all. And a lot of you guests keep guessing my plot points. Am I that predictable? :P**

**Anyways, hope you're all enjoying 5 Years Later and that I continue to live up to your expectations. Til next Friday!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Secrets and Lies

Hiro was still trying to wrap his brain around it a half hour later when he was staring into an empty yogurt cup. He had designed that system himself, it should have gone off if an emergency occurred. Why hadn't it? Furthermore, who was the man running into the house with a knife, set it on fire, then vanished without a trace? Another mystery, just what he needed.

"Hiro?" Tadashi prompted.

Hiro looked up at his brother. Tadashi was staring at him, standing over the table with his hands resting on it. Taken all together he looked very annoyed.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Hiro grinned sheepishly.

"I asked if you were ready to go." Tadashi rolled his eyes. "Have you been listening to a word I've said?"

Hiro stood up and threw his bowl away. "Of course I have. You were talking about reversible polarity of a neutron… generator?"

Tadashi nodded coldly. "Go on…"

"And how if you can do that you can… achieve… something."

Tadashi face-palmed as they left the shop. "You weren't listening at all, were you?"

"No." Hiro sighed. "I've had a lot on my mind lately. I'm sorry."

Tadashi ran his hand down his face. "I thought you'd been a quite lately." they climbed into the car. "So what's on your mind?"

Hiro panicked. "Um… Finals!" He blurted. "Yeah, finals are really stressing me out. All that… math."

Tadashi glanced sideways at him. "Math? You, who graduated high school at thirteen, is being stressed out by math?"

Hiro cringed. "Um, yup."

"You could ask Aunt Cass for help you know."

"Yeah, well… she's stressed enough as it is. She did try once, but it kinda went over her head."

Tadashi laughed. "I guess that's true enough. It's settled then." He pulled into the street.

"What's settled?"

"That I'll tutor you in math. I thought I'd made that quite clear." Tadashi grinned at Hiro's sputtering.

"That's not- I don't need- You don't have to-"

"Oh, it's fine." Tadashi waved him off. "I'm happy to help, really."

"No-I- you- What?!"

/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\

Hiro dumped his tools on the bench. The tutoring session had been long and arduous, as well as being completely unnecessary. An entire hour of sitting there playing dumb before he was finally allowed to work on his senior project.

It was going to be big, possibly bigger than his micro-bots. Only with less of a backfire this time. He hoped. He heard the door open and close behind him as someone walked in.

"Leave it on the table, Aunt Cass. I'll get eat it later." He called over his shoulder.

He felt a strong arm pat him on the back. "It's not Cass, Hiro."

Hiro whirled to see Wasabi standing there. He grabbed his friend in a hug.

"Hey! I thought you didn't get off work until eight."

"I don't." Wasabi released himself from the hug. "I got off early, due to a lighting strike idea."

"What's that?" Hiro questioned.

Wasabi reached into his jacket and pulled out a mop of blond fuzz. He plopped it unceremoniously on Hiro's head, adjusting it so he could see, if barley.

"What do you think?" He asked proudly.

Hiro looked in the workshop mirror and winced. He looked like a surfer and a geek had been fused together, then drawn apart again, with the geek keeping the hair.

"It's…" Terrible, horrendous, looks like a cat threw up on my head… "Nice." He turned back to Wasabi. "Why do I need a wig?''

"Well, you said you need a way to keep Tadashi from finding out who you are. This little baby," He patted the wig. "Came off of one of the customers I found it in the lost and found."

Hiro tore it off his head, much to Wasabi's chagrin.

"Honestly, Hiro. Do think I would give something to you without thoroughly sterilizing it first?"

Hiro grinned sheepishly. "No. I suppose you wouldn't, huh?" He set the wig on the table.

"It's a good idea, Wasabi, but I think we'll need more than a wig to hid me from my own brother."

Wasabi crossed his arms and laughed good-naturedly. "True, although didn't you say he didn't recognize you when he first woke up?"

"Disorientation can lead to some confusion." Baymax spoke up from his charger.

"Yeah, what he said." Hiro nodded. "Besides, it's been five years. I shouldn't have expected him to come back seamlessly." He turned back to his project. "I've changed, you've changed, the only one who hasn't changed is…"

Hiro paused, while Wasabi exhaled forcefully. "Yeah. Must be hard on him. Waking up and finding everything you knew changed and everyone old. I suppose it's better than finding everyone dead, but still…"

They stood in silence a while.

"Thanks for the wig, Wasabi." Hiro whispered.

Wasabi smiled. "No problem, kiddo."

He left, leaving Hiro alone to think.

"Hiro?" Baymax inquired. "Your blood sugar is low. Would you like for me to get you a snack?"

Hiro took a deep breath. "Yeah. That'd be good buddy. Thanks."

Baymax started waddling out. "I shall bring carrots, celery, gummy bears…"

Hiro grinned and shook his head. He returned to working on his project. Had that screw been loose before? He wasn't sure. He started screwing it back in, working his whole arm into the job.

He'd lost track of time when he heard a clatter behind him. It couldn't have been long because Baymax wasn't back yet.

Hiro turned sharply, whirling to see his delicately balanced hubcap collection falling onto the floor and crashing into his spare screws box. Hiro furrowed his brow and walked over. He lifted one of the caps cautiously. Not seeing anything, he went back to his work table. He'd clean up later.

He was about to resume his work when he heard another clatter behind him. He saw Tadashi standing over the broken pieces of a magniatuious cleaver.

Tadashi grinned at his brother. "Hey, what's up?"

"Um," Hiro lifted an eyebrow. "I'm working? What are you doing here?"

"I'm- um, looking for…" Tadashi looked around the room, as if for an explanation. He grabbed a screwdriver from a nearby table. "One of these!" He held it triumphantly.

"A screwdriver?" Hiro questioned.

"Uh… Yes?"

They stood in an awkward silence. Tadashi jumped when Baymax walked in with a tray of food.

"Hello Tadashi." Baymax said. "You have returned quickly."

"Uh, yeah." Tadashi chuckled nervously. "I, uh, forgot this." He waved the screwdriver around empathically.

"Well, uh, gotta go!" He darted out the door.

"That was weird." Hiro stated. He turned to his friend. "What did you mean 'he returned quickly'?"

"When I was getting your nourishment I saw Tadashi leaving. I inquired to your Aunt Cass where he was going and she said she didn't know. Would you like a gummy bear?"

Hiro's brow furrowed. "I didn't see him come in or anything." He shrugged. "Must've been buried in my work again, I guess. What kind do you have?"

He turned and saw the rubble on the floor. He sighed. "He had to break Fred's lightning hammer."

_**Shout out to AwesomeWriter2013 for the blonde wig idea. BTW: I'm sorry for the hiatus. Life and procrastination and a bunch of other things got in the way. Finally I looked at my number of followers I have and said "Quill, they are depending on you. Sit down and type!" I have another one coming up, so I tried to make this longer than usual. Thoughts, reviews, and rebukes are always welcome. I'll see you guys in three to four weeks.**_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Strange Happenings

Tadashi thrashed and writhed in his bed. The same images kept flashing through his mind, ceaseless and without meaning. He was surrounded by flames, then they melted into puddles of green ooze, which in turn swirled into his friends, family, and people he had never seen before. They started to creep up on him, slowly and with smile brimming with sharp teeth.

He sat up with a jolt. He rubbed his eyes and blinked in the rising sunlight. The dream had started since he got back from, well, the dead. He guessed the flame bit was post-traumatic stress or something. As for the goo or the faces, who knew.

He blundered his way into the kitchen/dining room where Aunt Cass was laying out some breakfast.

"Hey, sweetie!" She smiled. "How'd you sleep?"

He considered the nightmarish dream. "Like a baby." He sat at the table. "Where's Hiro?"

Aunt Cass turned to grab another plate. "Oh, he usually crashes down here a few minutes after I put the food down."

Sure enough, as soon as Tadashi was finishing his eggs Hiro scrambled down the stairs, pulling his hoodie on as he ran. Cass, without even looking, held out a breakfast sandwich. Hiro grabbed it and dashed down the stairs.

Tadashi stared at Aunt Cass. Finally, she turned around and noticed.

"What?"

"How long has that been happening?" He inquired.

Aunt Cass looked baffled for a moment, then laughed. "Oh, that. After a while, it just became routine, I guess. He usually rushes about, so I figured I might as well give him a nutritious breakfast on the go." She turned back to the dishes and started washing them. "So where'd you go last night?"

Tadashi furrowed his brow. "Go? I didn't go anywhere." He stabbed the last bite of his eggs.

Aunt Cass turned back. "But, you left last night. Didn't you?" She stared at him.

"I swear, Aunt Cass, I never left the house." He thought a moment. "I did go to bed early. But that's it."

Cass stared at him a few moments longer. "But- I- You…" She chuckled. "All right, knuckle-head." She turned back to the dishes. "Whatever you say."

The whole day, Tadashi was pondering this. He hadn't gone anywhere…

_**Ah! Another chapter done. XP I am very tired. I had three weeks of summer camp. I would not recommend it. See ya'll next week.**_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Eight: Curiouser and Curiouser

Hiro ran down the stairs to the basement. He couldn't be late. He just couldn't. It was all well and fine if Tadashi took his time, but he had a fully-functioning nurse bot to take care of. Not to mention all his side projects.

Hiro ran into the garage and skid to a stop. He had long since moved Baymax's charger down there, as it made mornings go a lot smoother. However, this particular morning, Baymax was up, and conversing with a fully dressed Tadashi.

"Hey, Tadashi." Hiro said carefully. "I thought you were having breakfast upstairs."

Tadashi regarded him carefully. "I was. But I'm not now."

_Clearly._ Hiro couldn't help thinking. This was no good. He couldn't fly to school if Tadashi was in here. He decided to stall and hope he would leave eventually.

"So… what are you doing in here?"

Tadashi raised an eyebrow. "It's _our _workshop, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah." Hiro faltered. "But you didn't- don't normally come down here just to hang out." _Especially if I'm not here._ He added silently.

"I wanted to see how Baymax was functioning." His brother regarded him coldly.

Hiro took the chance. "Well," He said brightly. "As you can see, he's just fine. Now if you'll excuse us, we- uh- have to stop at Fred's house before we get to school. Uh… bye." He finished lamely.

/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\/\

He ended up actually stopping at Fred's. He and Baymax took the bus there, then grabbed the backup suits and headed to school. Try as he might, though, Hiro couldn't get his conversation with Tadashi out of his head. He'd seemed colder, more distant. Had he done something to offend his older brother?

"Hey, Baymax? Did Tadashi seem… different to you?"

"He seemed depressed, pale skinned, and sullen. Perhaps he is suffering from Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder."

Hiro frowned. "Maybe…"

It didn't seem right, but he supposed anything was a possibility…

/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\/\

"Baymax, I think I left my fusion wrench on the table. Would you hand it to me?"

Hiro's head was halfway in a three-fold carbonator. He was still working on getting his end-of-year project to shrink. It was no easy task, but he was determined to have it finished. With any luck, it would be bigger than his miro-bots.

He felt weight hit his outstretched palm. "Thanks."

"No problem." A voice that wasn't Baymax's responded.

Hiro pulled his head out of the carbonator. "Tadashi!" He exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to bring you your lunch." He held out a brown paper bag. "Aunt Cass made sandwiches."

Hiro grabbed the bag eagerly. "Thanks again." He started munching. "Mmmmm! Turkey and Swiss. She knows us well."

"That she does." Tadashi pulled out his own sandwich and started eating.

"So…" Hiro started. "What was with you this morning?"

Tadashi glanced up at him, confused. "I'm not sure what you mean." He thought a moment. "I haven't sleep all that well lately. Course, I wouldn't tell that to Aunt Cass. Why?"

Hiro shrugged. "I dunno. You just seemed a little… moody."

Tadashi laughed. "Well, thanks for mentioning that. I'll try to hide any further sleep loss from you as well."

Hiro chuckled. "Thanks for the lunch."

Tadashi molded his face into a grin. "Anytime lit- bro."

They did their traditional fist bump and Tadashi started to leave. He was almost to the door when something occurred to Hiro.

"Hey, could I have that screwdriver back?"

Tadashi turned back to him, just as Melina Swartz came around the corner with her science project, the Shocker Blocker 85. It was designed to send a shock through a computer system to reboot it, but she was working on making it safe for people to actually use.

And just then, all the electricity from her project ran through his brother's body. Tadashi spasamed for a moment, then fell to the floor with a heavy thud. Hiro's mind shut down.

Vaguely he remembered yelling at Melina, shouting for Baymax, and crying for an ambulance. He cradled his older brother in his arms muttering something along the lines of "Please don't die. I can't lose you again." Over and over.

"Please…"


	10. Chapter 10

_**Sorry for the cliffy in that last one, even though I didn't keep you waiting that long. (WHOO! Double update!) I did try to make these two chapters longer. Tell me if I succeeded. Also, I would like to apologize if my medical/techno babble seems a bit forced. I have little knowledge of those things so it's mostly guess work. **_

Chapter Ten: What is Going on Here?

_Flames. Everything was flames. He questioned how he was even still alive, though he probably wouldn't hold that position long. His body felt shapeless and liquid. He had to strain just to roll forward. He needed a shape!_

_He heard a slosh underneath him and looked down. There was a green puddle under him. The remains of his brother, no doubt. Arrogant fool had dashed ahead, headless of the danger from the rising flames. He tried not to dwell on it._

_He had to keep moving or he would join his brother, and all those like him. He was the last one left in here, which only made the pressure to leave through the light door greater. His survival, and possibly that of his people, depended on it._

_Suddenly he heard a voice break through the roaring of the flames. A wave of emotions came with it. Memories too. Normally he would fight these things, preferring what came before them to what came after. This time, however, he let them roll through him. He let them change him, emotionally, mentally, and physically. He became someone else._

_The last thing he saw before giving into to the oblivion was a large robot flying towards him._

Tadashi's eyes snapped open. He bolted upright, damp sweat covering his body for the second time that day. He looked around, desperate for something to make sense.

He was in a hospital room. That wasn't right. The last thing he remembered was being in Hiro's lab. He was about to go, then Hiro asked him something, then… pain. Lots of it. Had he relapsed? Was it possible to relapse from being burn almost to death? Probably not.

Hiro was sleeping in a chair near his bed. Whatever had happened, it had clearly freaked out his brother.

His brother… He shook his head, trying to clear it of the image those words now produced. His thoughts whirled. If his dream meant what he thought it did… San Fransokyo was in big trouble.

He ripped the IVs out his arm. Jumping out of bed, he shook Hiro awake.

"Wha-what?" Hiro blinked himself awake. "Tadashi! You're up! You-"

"Not now." Tadashi cut him off. "I need your help."

Hiro frowned but nodded anyway. "What do you need?"

"Do you know where I can find the Big Hero 6?"

/\\\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\/\

The ride to the meeting place had been a silent one. Hiro had given him several worried glances. He probably wondered what was so important he couldn't stay in the hospital long enough to check out properly.

He didn't understand. Couldn't and wouldn't understand. If Tadashi had his way, he wouldn't tell him for some time yet, if at all.

Hiro, despite the disapproval he was making no effort to hide, had driven Tadashi to the docks, promising to make contact with the BH6 and tell him to meet him there. Not a perfect plan, but Tadashi was just relived he hadn't insisted on staying with him.

It had taken a good deal of waiting but finally he saw multi-colored figures heading towards him.

They surrounded him, but not in a way that made him feel cornered. His eyes drifted across them, surveying all of them. The screens of their helmets were darkened, probably with one-way or tinted glass. One boy, who was in purple, was mounted on a large muscular-looking thing that could only be a bot.

He cleared his throat. "Thank you all for coming." He kicked himself. What was he? An awards announcer? "I would have gone to the police with this, but I've been watching all of you and this seems more… up your ally."

Silence. The green and pink ones twitched their heads towards one another, as if exchanging a glance.

"I- wanted to let you know something so that you could be alert for trouble. It… it won't be easy to say, but I'll tell you now that it's the whole truth and… I feel the same way for this city anyone would. I want to protect it as much- almost as much as you."

He paused and the blue, lizardy one stepped forward a bit.

"Well, what's wrong?" His voice came out matted and frayed. Probably due to a voice changer.

Tadashi took a deep breath. "I'm not Tadashi Hamada."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven: Oh, Come On!

Hiro felt like his brain was imploding. _No. no._ it kept repeating. He couldn't lose his brother again after only just getting him back. _No. no. _

Dimly, he heard Go-Go ask "If you aren't Tadashi, then who are you?"

Her voice sounded weird through the last minute voice changer he'd rigged. It wasn't his favorite solution, but it would have do to. The one-way glass had taken a minute, but Wasabi had said it was 'truly inspired' and the others had agreed.

Tadas- no. The Not-Tadashi sighed and looked at the ground. "It's not a pretty story." He began. "The truth is, my name is Amarrdon Mixtako. I'm, and this will sound absurd, I'm part of a race of shape-shifters known as the Galcamoorz. We feed off of strong emotions, such as pride, greed, love, ectera. It's completely harmless to those we get the emotions from, though. At most, they feel a bit tiered. We eat what we need, then we leave.

"Normally we wouldn't go anywhere major. Just concerts and recitals, places where pride and affection run especially high. After we've had our fill, we go home to our own little pocket dimension. I… I won't go into details, but some of our more… ambitious residents stayed a little too long in the wrong place. In revenge the… wronged party set our home on fire."

"WHOA!" Fred exclaimed. "Harsh."

"Oh, it gets better." Not-Tadashi promised. "You see, in our natural forms we can only withstand temperatures of about a hundred and ten degrees. Around that, our bodily structure tends to liquidize."

He was silent a long moment before continuing. "We thought we were going to die. Our whole planet was being punished because of some brash rookies. All of us were going to pay for it.

"Then, by some miracle, a door of light appeared in the square. We didn't know what it was at the time, but it was better than what we were leaving behind. I don't know how many got out before I did, but by the time you," He gestured at Hiro and Baymax. "Got there I was nearly dead. Your memories of Tadashi were too much for me to fight, and I became him completely. All memory of my true self was locked away until I got electrical shock. Then I remembered."

A long pause followed as this new information sunk in. Hiro's insides boiled. Not only was this imposter _not_ his brother, but it was an emotion sucking alien from another dimension? This was too much.

"You said you wanted to warn us about something." He stated harshly.

Not-Tadashi sighed again. "Yeah. One of the ones who got through the Sparrow before me was named Kilimni. He's a rather violent sort and a bit of a glutton. He takes more than he needs and leaves his victims half-dead and quite drained of all emotions. I wanted to tell you to keep a lookout for him."

"Great." Hiro nodded harshly. "Great. Keep our eyes out for a shape-shifting maniac. Got it. Anything else? No? Great. Bye."

He urged Baymax into flight, telling him to go anywhere, everywhere, just to put distance between himself and all his shattered hopes.

_**This chapter is a bit more intense. As soon as I figure out how, I think I'll bump the rating up a bit. So, how many of you did I traumatize? **_


	12. Chapter 12

_**Guest, yes I do read Unwanteds. I meant to tell you that last time.**_

Chapter Twelve: Sorry it Came to This

Apparently anywhere and everywhere was the top of the wind turbines. Baymax had automatically come here, rather than anywhere else. Hiro supposed it was logical, them being the only ones that could fly.

Hiro got off Baymax as soon as they landed. He sat heavily on the top of the turbine, mulling over what he'd just been told.

"Crying can help with emotional buildup." Baymax suggested helpfully.

"Yeah, well I did my crying." Hiro huffed. "I cried when he died, I cried when I got him back. I'm not going to cry just because I never got him back in the first place."

Even as he spoke, though, he could feel tears welling up in his eyes. He wiped them away.

"On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

"Good question."

How did he rate it? A five for the sheer shock? A ten for the emotional trauma?

"Let's say a seven, for now."

He felt the familiar embrace. "There, there." His hair was ruffled by the robot's patting.

He pulled away and offered a small smile. "Thanks, buddy. Hey, could you, um, play the video?"

Baymax extended an arm and activated his hologram upgrade. Hiro looked at where he was aiming to see Tadashi's face.

"This is Tadashi Hamada." The hologram stated. "And this is the first test of my robotics project…."

/\\\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\/\

Amarrdon watched them leave. He felt a twinge as he did. He knew it was a big shock, but was it really that big?

"So, if you aren't really Tadashi, then how did you remember everything he would have?" The yellow hero asked.

"Well," Amarrdon exhaled. "To put it simply, whenever I was around someone with memories of him, those memories got downloaded into my brain. It, uh, helps the disguise." He finished lamely.

"So can you change into anything?" The blue one asked excitedly.

"Well, no. There are some limitations. Only what a person looked like at one given point in time."

"Oh." He thought a moment. "If your name is Armageddon, can we call you Arm?"

"It's Amarrdon, and no. I think Ama might be a more appropriate nickname."

"Ama. Ama." He rolled it around in his mouth a bit. "Nah. I'm sticking with Arm."

"Great." Amarrdon deadpanned.

The pink one, which was obviously a girl, spoke up. "Do you know what form the other one would have taken? Killi, I think it was?"

"Kilimni." Ama corrected gently. "And no. Unlike me, he wasn't half dead when he changed form. He has full control over his abilities and has so for months."

"Can we see your true form?" The blue piped up again.

The green one responded before Ama could. "I'd like not to, if it's all the same to you."

"Do you have names?" Ama asked, suddenly. "I don't want to keep calling you by your colors in my head. It's very annoying."

They stared at him a moment.

"Up until now, we never needed any." The green one stated.

"Hmm. Okay then." He thought a moment. "Would you mind if I tagged along to help you find Kilimni?"

They looked to the green one, who shrugged. "I guess if H- our leader doesn't mind. You can tag along until he shows up again. Might be useful to have you."

_**Sorry, I know it's short… and slow, but this was really more of an "answering questions put to me' kinda chapter. Speaking of, I hope this answered some of the ones you had. Also, if the BH6 do have Hiro names, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! Ama isn't the only one who thinks identifying them by color is annoying. There's only so many times I can refer to Fred as 'the blue one.'**_


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen: Coping, or Lack Thereof.

It had been a week since Not-Tadashi's big reveal. Hiro still hurt, and having to pretend he still thought he was Tadashi anytime they were home helped nothing. As a result, he had decided simply to avoid the pretender. Often retreating to his lab at the school.

The others never joined him. Worse, they kept taking "Ama" out on missions with them to help them spot the other shape-shifter. Hiro declined every time they invited him. One day Honey Lemon had asked if they could take Baymax for Ama to ride on. Hiro had sullenly agreed, only to retreat back to his lab as soon as she'd left with the robot.

He had just finished fusing the steel to the bi-carbonite when he heard familiar footfalls enter. He sighed, eyes already rolling.

"Go-Go, listen." He turned to face his friend. "I know what you're going to say because the others came just before you. I don't care if he's a nice guy once you get to know him. I'd rather not deal with him, okay?"

Go-Go's eyebrows raised. "I see." She said simply.

Hiro continued. "I don't care if that make me a spoiled brat or a child or what. I just don't want to deal with someone pretending to be my brother."

She blinked at him. Once. Twice. Then a malicious and rather Un-Go-Go like grin spread across her features.

"Oh." She whispered menacingly. "So that's where you've been hiding him. And here I thought I'd have to ask."

She slowly strode up to him, pulling a screwdriver out of her pocket and twirling it as she went, the eerie grin still on her face. Hiro backed against his work table.

"Go-Go?" he whispered.

"Not quite." She smirked. "I've been watching you for some time, kid. I knew you were somehow mixed up in all this. How was I to know you were the one who found my partner?"

Hiro gulped. "Lucky break?"

Go-Go finally reached him. She chuckled. "Perhaps. Thank you for telling me Ama's location. I'll be sure to put the info to good use."

With a final smirk, she raised the screwdriver and brought it down on Hiro's temple. Hiro crumbled to the ground. He figured he must have been hallucinating, because before he blacked out, he saw Go-Go's form shiver into his own.

"Night-night, kid."

_**He's not dead! Just thought I would assure you of that right away. Sorry this one is rather short, I decided to play "Take On Too Many Projects At One Time." Having said that please check out my other fics. I feel like this story will be winding to a close very soon, if only so that I **__**can**__** move on. We'll see how it goes. **_

_** Oh, another thing, if any of you were confused in the last chapter, I'll be calling Tadashi/Not-Tadashi by the nickname Ama. Sorry for any brain-implosions. **_


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen: Thicker and Thicker

"Hold on," Ama assured the robot. "Just a few more screws."

They were in the garage, Ama adding a few tweaks that, with any luck, would allow the robot to see any other Galcamoorz and notify the Big Hero 6. He had been apprehensive about tinkering with the robot, but the heroes had assured him that it would be fine.

"Almost… there!" he wiped some sweat from his brow. "You know, this would have been a lot easier if I could take off that armor."

"I apologize." The robot said. "My programming prevents me from taking off my armor in front of a civilian."

"Yeah, yeah. So you tell me." He chuckled. "though, I don't know that I'd use the term civilian when referring to me."

He sighed and sat on the couch. He unscrewed a soda and took a long drink from it. When he'd finished he saw the robot still standing there.

Ama cocked an eyebrow. "Well…?"

"I have been instructed to bring you to a location of meeting as soon as you are ready."

Ama considered this, then sighed and nodded. "Alright, let's go."

He scrambled none too gracefully onto the red bot's back. As soon as he was secure the bot took off.

Taken all together, Ama was rather indifferent on flying. He had used winged forms before, so it wasn't new to him. However, if he was to fly, barley attached to a flying robot was not the way he wanted to do it. He didn't trust the clamp things, no matter how much Tadashi's memories told him it was secure.

Needless to say, he was grateful to land. The other heroes were all waiting for him when they did, including the purple one who had run off when he'd told his story. The one who seemed to avoid him.

Ama hopped off the robot and walked over to the purple suited one. He rubbed the back of his neck. Clearing his throat, he decided to try and make amends for whatever he had done.

"Listen, I- I wanted to apologize for anything I might have done to- offend you or anything. If I did anything to hurt your feelings or-"

The purple one cut him off. "It's fine. Any animosity between the two of us, can be solved later."

Ama blinked. "Later? Um, sure, okay."

He turned his attention to the green one.

"Now, we've already searched the higher and lower city." He began. "Of, course seeing as they could be anyone and they can move about, there's no real way to find them without Ama," The green one nodded in his direction. "We basically have to keep up a constant search. We may, however, have a new way to look." He turned back to the purple one. "Do you remember when you enhanced Bay- Ba- Bar- Barton's scanner so you could scan the whole city at once?"

Purple hesitated, then nodded once.

"Well, it's the same concept. Only with the scanner being tuned to their biology. It'll seek it out, and –"

"Can I interrupt?" Purple interjected. "who exactly is they?"

"The Galcamoorz." Pink supplied. "Ama's people."

"I see. And Barton is…?"

Green gestured at the robot, rather embarrassed. "I-uh- it just came out."

The other chuckled, so he continued. "Yes, well, anyway. The plan today is to split into two groups. One with Ama and one with," He sighed. "Barton."

"I call Arm's Team!" The blue lizard hopped up.

"Alright," Green nodded. "Who else?"

"I'll go." Purple spoke up unexpectedly.

Green stuttered. "Are- Are you sure? You don't have to."

Purple nodded decisively. "I'm sure."

"All- All right." Green shook his head a bit. "Anyone else?"

Yellow raised her hand and Green nodded with finality. "And the rest of us will be on team… Barton." Blue Lizard snickered. Ready, and break!"

They split off into separate groups, ready to find the other shape-shifters.


	15. Chapter 15

_**For those who might be confused, in Ama's POV he just refers to everyone by their costume colors because, as far as I know, they don't really have hero names. **_

Chapter Fifteen: Proceed with Cation

The search wasn't going so well for Ama's group. They had searched most of the main town, and other area's he had decided would be good places, as well as some he didn't consider would be. They and looked high and low, low and high, but had had no luck.

"Are you sure you know what you're looking for?" Purple asked after their fourth trip through downtown.

"Yes!" Ama exclaimed. "I just- look, you guys basically live on a beach. It is possible they all just shipped off somewhere."

"Awwww!" Blue Lizard whined. "I was hoping we could see some in that 'natural form' you told us about."

Ama rolled his eyes. "Even if they are still here, you wouldn't see our natural form. It's not something we're keen on sharing, hence why I haven't shown you mine."

"Come on! You could at least describe it to me, or draw a picture! Yeah! A picture would be awesome!" the costumed creature fantasied.

"Is this the only reason you asked to go with me?" Ama questioned.

There was a long pause before a rather unconvincing "No…"

Ama chuckled and shook his head a bit. After working with the BH6 for a while, he had gotten used to the Blue Lizard's pestering questions. They could be rather funny at times. When they weren't being annoying and obtrusive, that is.

They ducked down another side-street.

"So," Purple started. "How can you tell if someone is…" he gestured awkwardly at Ama. "One of you."

Ama blinked. "Well, you would look for behavior patterns, compare what you know to how they act now, that sort of thing. It's little things, most of the time. A tic that they no longer have, a sudden dislike of a favorite food, stuff like that."

"Yeah but how do you tell." He pressed a finger on Ama's chest on the word you.

"Oh." Ama felt his cheeks grow warm. "It's- it's not- we- I- well i…" His face got hotter with every sentence. "It's uh-"

"DUH!" Blue Lizard suddenly interjected. "Through scent, right?"

Ama's shoulders dropped in relief. "Yes. That's it exactly."

They walked on, in silence this time. Ama briefly wondered at exactly how he'd acquired the talent to dodge bullets so effectively.

They stopped at a three-way fork. After a heated debate involving a spatula and some birdcalls they agreed to go separate ways and signal for the others if they met anyone suspicious. Ama took they middle, Purple took the right and Blue took the left. They headed down their respective dark alleys.

Ama had never liked the dark. It generally meant bad things were on the way. Not to mention he'd been multiple people with a fear of the dark and half of them had good reason to be. Sometimes full memory access wasn't fun.

With those thoughts swirling in his head, nearly every shadow became a mugger or another form of suspious character. Every sound was the footstep of his doom. Then he heard an actual footstep and whirled around.

He breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of Purple walking towards him. "Hey, man. Find anything?"

Purple shook his head slowly, then cocked it. "Hot out here, isn't it Ama?"

Ama furrowed his brows. "Um, what?"

His eyebrows shot into his hairline when Purple began to take off his helmet.

"What are you doing? I thought-"

"You thought wrong." A gruff voice interrupted. Ama whirled around to face a tall man with graying hair and a studded leather jacket. "You're slipping, Amarrdon. We've been tracking you for half a year, now."

"Stop being dramatic, Melifnine." Ama whirled again to see… Hiro. In Purple's suit. "It wasn't that long."

While they argued about how long it actually was, Ama's mind was whirling. Suddenly, dozens of tiny little things began to click into place. Hundreds of tiny inconsistences suddenly made sense. Tadashi Hamada had five friends and one brother. Five plus one equaled six. The Big Hero Six. It all fit. The gaps in Hiro's excuses, how he'd avoided him after he'd told the BH6 his secret. Was he really just that blind? Though, in his defense, Aunt Cass hadn't figured it out either, and she'd had much longer to do so. Or did she… Ama wasn't sure. He wasn't sure of much anymore, it seemed.

"AT ANY RATE!" the Hiro look-a-like snapped. "We have you now." He smiled menacingly. "The boss will be pleased."

A pretty blonde girl, who Ama guessed was the Melifnine since the biker guy had disappeared, grinned wickedly, then plastered on a look of false sympathy.

"He was so so sad when you left us Amarrdon." She told him, her voice now high and squeaky. "He'll be so happy to know you're coming back." The wicked smile returned. "One way or another.

A lot of things happened at once then. Ama realized what was happening and started to signal for Blue Lizard, who he guessed was Fred. The false Hiro whistled and Ama felt something large hit the back of his head. Then the world went dark.

_**Why do I enjoy knocking them out so much? Hehe, oh well. I figured it was about I time I updated this one, but I have to tell you, it's getting harder. I have a clear image of the final scene, I just haven't the faintest clue how to get to it at this point. Ugh, writer's block is almost a bigger jerk than insomnia. They are both just so much fun… not.**_


	16. Chapter 16

_**This story has officially gotten a mind of its own. I'm a little scared of what I've created. This chappie is a bit longer than the others, so bear with me and enjoy. (Forgive the way Hiro is talking, he's not right in the head here)**_

Chapter Sixteen: Could it Get Any Worse?

When he finally woke up again, he was tied to a chair. That wasn't so bad, in and of itself. He ropes were a bit tight and the chair a bit hard, but he supposed that kind of thing was expected for someone in his position. He had a splitting headache where he got hit over the head, but again, not anything he hadn't expected. No, what was really bad was the person sitting next to him. Tied to another chair, face bloodied and marred, was Hiro.

Ama didn't know if it was the time he spent as Tadashi or his personality in general, but something inside him flare. Exactly what had Hiro done to deserve being here. Himself he understood, but Hiro was little more than a victim of circumstance. If anyone else had been called in to fix that Sparrow he probably would've taken the form of their long-dead loved one.

He took a deep breath to try and calm down. He tucked his anger in the back of his head and started to take stock of the situation. Hiro's face wasn't as bloody as he's first thought. There was really just a small stream of it coming from his temple. He was unconscious, as far as Ama could tell. The ropes didn't seem to be cutting off any circulation, so that was a plus, at least.

He turned his attention to the room around him. Cement, gray, bleak, no windows, one door, and a camera in every corner. Great. Just perfect.

The door opened, suddenly, startling him from his thoughts. A man who looked exactly like Hiro walked through, the only difference being an evil smirk playing on his lips and the Galcamoorz clothing on his person.

"Well, well, well." Not-Hiro said. "Little Amarrdon finally woke up."

"Who-who are you?" Ama croaked. "What's your name?"

The Not-Hiro tsked. "your voice is pretty scratchy Amarrdon, best save it for later, eh?" he smirked. "To answer your question, my name is Tehenoplate. Teheno, (Te-Hen-O) for short. You might have heard of me."

Had he ever. Tehenoplate was one of the group who'd mad the mistake of impersonating a Jhog commander's council. It was what had gotten their planet blown up in the first place. Tehenoplate was one of the ones who wasn't sorry about it.

"Oh! That's a mighty fine amount of hate pouring off you." Teheno pulled another chair out from the hall and closed the door. "I gather you don't like me much."

Ama didn't say anything, not trusting himself not to dig a deeper hole than he was already in. Teheno sat down in the chair and propped his feet on Ama's lap, put his hands behind his head and leaned back.

"It's a nice form, this one." He nodded at Hiro. "Much better than that Jhog suit I was forced to wear for that ever so boring job on their home world."

Ama grit his teeth. "That 'ever so boring job' cost the lives of many good people. Maybe if you weren't such a psychopathic adrenaline junkie you'd actually feel something."

Teheno's smirk grew. "There's the Ama they all talked about. Nice to meet you at long last."

Ama took another deep breath. "Why are you here?"

Teheno tsked again. "Tut, tut. I think you'll find I'm the one asking questions here."

So it's an interrogation, then. Ama thought. But why?

They sat there in silence for a long time, Ama glaring at Teheno, the latter smirking at Ama. Every muscle in Teheno's body oozed an 'I know something you don't know' aura. It made Ama want to scream, which he figured was the point. Vaguely, he wondered if Teheno was the one who'd met him in the ally.

Their standoff went on, dragging minutes into hours, until they heard a soft moan by Ama's side.

\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\/\/

Ow, ow, and double ow. Getting hit in the head and knocked out wasn't nearly as fun as movies made it out to be. Not that they'd made it seem fun in the first place. Hiro's head ached and the side of his face was wet. Had he landed in something when he went down? It was hard to tell. Everything felt so fuzzy, even his memories.

He opened his eyes a crack, regretting it almost instantly when they were met with a blinding white light. He blinked dazedly, trying to comprehend his surroundings. He was tied to a chair in a cement room next to Tadashi, who was also tied up and had the feet of Hiro's twin brother in his lap.

Hiro shook his head a bit. He didn't remember having a twin brother. And how did Tadashi get here, wasn't he…

Hiro's head really hurt now.

He tried to tell his clone to get off his brother, but only succeeded in mumbling "G' 'ff 'im." Which he was sure sounded as intelligent to the other two as it did to him.

His clone smirked. "I suppose being hit in the head with a full portion of my strength would addle you humans a bit, wouldn't it?"

"Hiro? Are you all right?" Tadashi asked gently.

"It'sss 'ine." Hiro slurred. "'m fine. 'ead 'urts a bit. 'Ut I'm jusssss 'ine."

Tadashi glared at the Hiro clone. "Why did you bring him here, he has nothing to do with this!"

Hiro's clone examined his fingernails. "Quite the contrary. We needed a bit of leverage against you. He's the only one you seemed close enough to to work. Plus, he was the only one who was alone. Easy pickings."

Hiro could see Tadashi straining against his restraints. "It's not easy pickings, you low-life. He's only a kid, he-"

"'Scuse me?" Hiro interjected. "Imma same age as you, 'm not a kid. Innit weeeeird? I gus I caugh up to you, uh?"

There was a small pause, then Hiro's clone laughed, while Tadashi seemed to be figuring out how to react. When he was done laughing, the clone stood up. With a surprising amount of speed, he tilted Tadashi's chair and slammed it into the wall.

"Little Hamada over there seems to be suffering from blunt force trauma or something." He chuckled darkly. "You best give my boss what he wants or he'll be suffering from a whole lot worse."

Tadashi gulped visibly. "Wha- what does he want?"

The clone's smile curved p towards his ears. "Follow me and you'll find out."

/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\/\

The walked down a long, narrow hall, Ama's wrists still bound. Despite his protests, Hiro had stayed in the cement room while they went to meet 'the boss.' Leverage, apparently, meant he'd stay where they knew it would hurt Ama most. Right now, that meant having him be half out of his wits, alone, and with no idea of what was going on.

Teheno led him down the long, winding corridor, not seeming to care if Ama was following or not. Maybe he trusted that Ama wouldn't get far. Or maybe he figured his curiosity and need to protect Hiro would outweigh the need to escape. He was probably right on that count.

They passed an innumerable amount of doors, each of which looked the same. Ama briefly wondered if that meant Teheno was leading him the long way so he'd get lost if he tried it on his own. Before he had too much time to dwell on this, however, they reached a large, ornate oak double door that he supposed was their destination.

Sure enough, Teheno pushed open the door as soon as they reached it. On the other side was a room that looked like a cross between a throne room and the control deck of a spaceship. There were large panels of computers on either side of the room, often winding around large pillars. In the center stood a large statue of a man with chiseled features. Surrounding it were what Ama could only describe as hologram screens. And at the very end of the room sat a large throne surrounded by screens. On it sat a man only slightly less perfectly proportioned as the statue.

When he saw Ama and Teheno he raised a single hand in the air. All of the workers that had previously escaped Ama's notice suddenly stopped and began to filter out of the room. Once they were all gone, the man gestured for the two of them to come closer.

As they neared, Ama got a better look at 'the boss.' He was tall, but not freakishly so. He had salt and pepper hair and a long pointed beard in the same color. The most disturbing thing, however, were his eyes. They were cold and blue and glittered with intelligence. Just looking at them made Ama want to crawl away.

Teheno shoved him to the ground once they reached the throne. "Brought him, boss. Just like you said to."

The man leered down at the two of them. "And he understands the…terms of his stay?"

Teheno nodded.

"Good." The man purred. "Perhaps you are wondering why I had you brought here, Amarrdon."

"The thought may have crossed my mind." Ama grumbled.

"You see, I knew you wouldn't come willingly, but I just had to see you again."

"Look Kilimni, I don't have time for your games." Ama snapped. "I left for a reason, and I expect you to accept that."

The man on the throne chuckled. "Oh, I'm not Kilimni. He took a rather permanent leave of absence a few months ago. I'm the new head. And you know me, all too well. "

Slowly, shock and realization set into Ama's brain. It couldn't be. He had died in the fire. Hadn't he?

"Litrzoua?" he asked slowly.

The man's smile broadened. "Hello again, little brother."

_**Dun-Dun-Duhhhhhhhh! Sorry for the OC heaviness, it was a necessary evil. You know what they say; "In fanfiction, anthyding can hadplen." Apparently that is including, but not limited to, stories completely taking over their own creation and possibly turning on their creator.**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**Sorry for the long wait, but I got sidetracked on Phineas. I just gotta say, thank you all so SO much for your support. I never expected to get 150 followers, so I'll try and make this worthy of that number. Now, without any further ado…**_

Chapter Seventeen: Oh Brother

"H-How?" Ama stammered, practically quaking under Teheno's grasp. "I thought you were lower in the rankings. I thought-"

"You thought wrong, brother!" Litrzoua stood up and spread his hands in one grand motion. "I clawed my way to the top. Not without help, of course." He nodded at Teheno.

"Besides, did you really think Kilimni would want you back after what you did?"

Ama lowered his head in shame as Litrzoua laughed. "No, I'm the only one who could possibly find a use for _you _Maggedon."

An influx of bad memories poured into Ama's head at that nickname. Himself stranded on a boat floating away from shore, him halfway down a well and stuck to its wall, a ten-year old Ama strapped to the fountain in town square. In each one, his brother was laughing at him, saying the same phrase he always had. 'Well, Maggedon? Can you get yourself out of this or should I?' Always it was mockingly. After all, why undo your own prank?

His brother's voice startled him out of his thoughts. "Did you really think hiding among the humans would protect you from me? And Teheno tells me he was right next to you and you didn't find him." He tsked and ran his finger under Ama's chin, lifting it so that their eyes met. "You never were that good at tracking. Well, at anything really."

"I- I was good at one thing." Ama protested tentatively.

Litrzoua considered this. "True. But human computer science and inter species relations isn't something I'd call a skill."

Ama blushed lightly.

"However, it is one I may find a need for." Litrzoua smirked. "Consider you my investment. If you fail… well, your little friend will get more than just a headache."

"Fail?" Ama questioned.

Litrzoua started walking, he gestured for them to follow. "Come. I'll show you."

/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\/\

_No. Just, no._ There was no way Ama was looking at what he thought he was.

"Is that the Sparrow we can through?" He asked, almost afraid of the answer.

Litrzoua nodded. "Indeed it is. Good to see you aren't entirely useless."

"What- how do you have this?" He exclaimed. "_Why _do you have this?"

Litrzoua rolled his eyes. "Obviously. This thing-" He pointed at the portal. "Allowed us to get from our pocket dimension to here." He waved at their surroundings.

They were in a lab, but Ama doubted that's what he was referring to.

"The humans may have beautiful forms, but they are too strong a species to try conquering on our first try, but we will come back for them once we have a few sup-species under our belt."

Ama held up a hand. "Back up! What do you mean?"

Litrzoua huffed. "Again, obvious. We are going to use this portal to take over a few dimensions and gain more power, then come back and take over Earth. I rather like this planet's technology, and the beings here are emotional enough that we wouldn't run out of food for some time." He spoke slowly, as if to a child.

Ama's eyes widened. "You- you can't. the council-"

"Isn't here. There's a new order now. What's that human phrase? Ah, yes: survival of the strongest. We have no room for weak-backed politicians here. Besides," He smiled wickedly. "It's not as if we ever listened to them in the first place, right?"

This made the others in the room laugh. Ama smiled weakly, still shaken, but realizing the need for a façade.

"So, you want me to what? Fix it? Tune it?"

Litrzoua rolled his eyes again. "I suppose that's one way to put it. Tune it in to some weakling dimension, then we'll see what happens from there. If not…"

He trailed off, and Ama knew he didn't need to finish that sentence. If he didn't get this working, then Hiro would be killed and Litrzoua would get another victim to hold over his head. His brother would carry out his threat, if needed. And there was a planet full of lives to hold over him right outside the door. Curse Ama's large, rather bloody heart. _*****_

He took a deep, shaky breath. "I'll need some help. This… project. It's too big for anyone to take on all by themselves."

Litrzoua nodded at some guards and they opened the door. Within seconds, Hiro was thrown into the room.

"There's your help, Maggedon." His brother laughed.

As he was leaving, he turned and fixed his brother with an icy stare. One that never changed, no matter his form. One that haunted Ama's dreams.

"You have one month." The doors banged shut behind him.

Ama ran over to Hiro, who hadn't moved much other than groaning from where he'd been thrown. He looked over him and was relived to find his injures didn't seem to be any worse. They weren't better either, but that was understandable.

Ama considered his options. If he failed, or worse, ran away, then someone would die. Even if he took Hiro and the others of the BH6 with him, Litrzoua would just start killing people until they came back. And then he'd kill the BH6 to make a point.

On the other hand, if he did "tune" the Sparrow his bloodthirsty and power-hungry brother would make prey out of weaker species until he was strong enough to take over Earth. And, knowing his brother, he probably had some of his people slowly infiltrating the governments. Making their way to the top so they could hand Litrzoua an easy victory, or else take over themselves if something went wrong.

Bad news for Earth no matter how he sliced it. He stared up at the machine in front of him. It dominated the lab, even though the size of _that_ was nothing to sneeze at. It seemed to mock him.

'Come on.' It said. 'Use me for your evil whims. Twist me to your brother's nefarious purpose. I'd like to see you try.'

He sighed and rolled up his sleeves. Better start now. A month was hardly very long when you were bending physics.

_** *A play on 'bleeding heart.' I hope that was somewhat understandable.**_

_** If you don't hate Litrzoua already, I'm doing it wrong. I'm sorry if this chapter was confusing. Message me if you need an explanation and I'll give one to the best of my abilities. Seriously though, thank you guys again. Every time I see that number go up I do a little happy dance. Thank you for actually liking my half-deluded ramblings, even if they break your heart. **____** love you guys.**_


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen: Why do we always end up like this?

All he could see was darkness. It reached on as far as Hiro could see. He tried moved a bit, but his limbs wouldn't respond. They felt heavy. He wondered how he would move if he could. Would he swim? Or would he simply walk on the thick blackness?

_Hiro…_ A soft voice called. He elected to ignore it.

Ideally, he thought, I would just stay here. It's so peaceful. Nothing to worry about, no one to fight. Nothing at all.

_Hiro…_ the voice called more urgently.

Hiro felt himself frown. That voice was beginning to get annoying. If he could walk, he would go looking for him. He blinked slowly. To his surprise, he saw a bit of light penetrating the darkness. He blinked again, and it grew. Eventually it began to form shapes. Dim gray shapes. A huge gray circle took up most of the room. Unfortunately, there was a massive pale blob taking up most of his vision.

_Hiro…_ the voice was coming from the blob.

Hiro blinked one more time and everything snapped into focus. The blob, as it turned out, was Tadashi. No not Tadashi. His name… Ama. That was who was above him. A small tsunami of disappointment crashed over him.

He shifted his head to look at the circle, which looked like… a Sparrow? In a laboratory? What?

"Hiro! You're awake!" Ama shouted.

Hiro groaned and raised a hand to his forehead. "Could you maybe not yell? My head hurts worse than the time Go-Go drop kicked me."

Ama cocked his head. "Exactly how did you manage that?"

"Long story." He sat up. "Where are we?"

Ama sat back and rubbed the back of his head. "Long story."

Hiro's eyes narrowed. "Well, make it a short one.

/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\/\

"So let me get this straight." Hiro said. "Your crazy brother, who is currently leading what's left of your species, wants us to fix up this Sparrow," He jabbed a thumb at it. "To hop from one dimension to another. And we can't leave until it's done?"

Ama nodded. "Don't forget the fact that they'll kill random people if we don't reach the time limit."

"Yes! Because who would want to forget _THAT!"_ Hiro threw his hands up in exasperation.

He started massaging his temples. This was more than a lot of pressure. He hated the idea of time limits, let alone one that put lives on the line. He also disliked the idea of being with Ama for any extended period of time, but it was really an issues of greater evils here.

He was silent for a long time. He weighed his options, not that he had any. He decided to switch gears and think of ways to turn the Sparrow into a portal.

"The Sparrow turned into a 'doorway' the first time through both a crossing of wires and a miscalculation of where the portal was _supposed _to go. I'm not sure if we can replicate the effect… hmmm. Maybe if we tried- no, that wouldn't work."

He started mumbling to himself, rising to his feet. He started to examine the Sparrow. He figured it would be somewhat difficult to actually change the nature of the device. Well, maybe if he stood on his head the solution would come easier.

He turned back to Ama, who hadn't budged.

"Well? You gonna help me figure this out, or are you just gonna stand there like a lump of metal?"

Ama blinked at him once, then slowly grinned. He got up and joined Hiro by the Sparrow.

Hiro turned away from him. "This doesn't mean I've forgiven you or anything. I'm just making the best of a less than ideal situation. I'm not about to forgive what you did."

"What I… Huh?"

"Come on." Hiro walked towards the nearby tool bench. "Let's get started."

/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\/\

The next few weeks were pretty uniform. They would get up, work on the Sparrow, and then go to bed. Occasionally someone would push a tray of food through the door and the two of them would split it. Ama made sure Hiro got a bit more than he did, but the younger boy never noticed. Ama didn't mind that, though. If Hiro never noticed, then he wouldn't reject it.

Ama thought the "repairs" were going pretty well, except that they weren't working at all. Whenever they got to what Ama thought was close, Hiro would wrinkle his brow and reverse their progress.

After the fifth time, Ama finally got fed up.

"Why do you keep doing that?" He asked.

Hiro paused in his ripping out wires. "What do you mean?"

Ama raised an eyebrow. "You keep going back and making us start over. What's up?"

Hiro stared at him. "I-I to be honest I'm not sure. I-I guess I just don't want anyone to get hurt by being _too_ close, you know."

Ama stared, then chuckled. "Yeah. I get it, I do. But, if you keep doing that then we'll never finish it and people will die anyway. If we're going to protect people we'll need to be cleverer about it."

Hiro nodded. "I know, but do you have any better ideas?"

Ama decided the floor was suddenly a very interesting place to look. "I might have a few." He looked back up. "But none of them will work if you keep ripping up our progress!"

Hiro's eyes widened. Then he frowned. "If you had ideas why didn't you say something?" he yelled.

Ama shrugged. "I have my reasons. Each idea has its own. I can't-"

"No, no, no! That's not good enough! You can't just wear his face and expect me to believe whatever comes out of your mouth! That's not how this works! You need to actually talk to me! You need to explain what's going on! You need to- you-"

Hiro broke down. Tears started trickling out of his eyes and Ama felt a wave of emotion crash over him.

_Oh._ He thought. _So that's the big crime I committed. _

He looked back at the floor. "I'm sorry. I kept this form and I didn't even think of how that would make you feel. For that, I truly apologize." He looked back up at Hiro. "If you want me to change, I will. I was never very good at it, but I will."

Hiro seemed completely taken aback at this. He blinked slowly at his companion. Ever so slowly, he shook his head.

"No. You don't have to. I mean… I won't make you… Thanks." He finished awkwardly.

Ama smiled. "No problem."

Ama went back to the tool bench and left Hiro to his thoughts. After all, he had his own thoughts to attend to. Such as the only idea he actually had.

It was a risk, and a horrible one, but it wasn't like he had a choice. It would mean going behind Hiro's back too, but again, not much choice. How he hated it. But in the end, it would be the right choice.

/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\/\

Nothing. Not one single solitary bit of progress on the portal. It was maddening. Hiro would have thought that after two weeks of nothing to do but work on the stupid thing, they would have actually gotten something done.

Hiro knew that he knew the tech, and yet whenever he got close it seemed that something threw him off. Sometimes it was an out of place wire, sometimes it was a wonky _**(it's a word) **_piece of metal. But whatever it was it always threw him for a loop. They weren't in the blueprints, so he neither expected them nor knew how to deal with them.

That was another reason he had been backtracking. It was always frustrating to deal with things like that. He hated having it crop up.

One day he gave in to the thought that had been chipping away at him from the beginning. He angled a chair so that the seat was facing the Sparrow, then draped himself upside-down on it.

"Whaaat are you doing?" He heard Ama ask.

Hiro cocked a small smile. "I'm looking at it from another angle." He responded. "Trying to see if there's a different way to fix this thing."

"Oh. … Is the sliding part of that plan?" Ama asked.

Hiro had enough time to ask, "What?" before his head hit the floor.

Ama chuckled as Hiro rubbed his head.

"It's not funny." He mumbled.

"I'm really sorry, but yeah, yeah it is."

Ama's chuckles turned into full blown laughter. Pretty soon Hiro was joining him. Laughter was infectious, and it was the first time they'd had something to laugh about in two weeks. They laughed for a good bit longer than the joke lasted, until, finally, they dwindled to a stop.

"Well, did you figure anything out from falling on the floor like that?" Ama asked, wiping tears out of his eyes.

Hiro took a deep breath, the fragments of a grin still lingering on his face. "No. Not really. The only thing I could really come up with is that we turn it into some kind of… I don't know, fishing hook to reel the dimensions to us, rather than trying to make the portal reach the dimensions. I know it sounds lame…" He trailed off a t the expression on Ama's face.

"That- that's not a bad idea, actually. I mean, the reeling part, not the fish hook." Ama practically scrambled to the tool bench.

He grabbed a fresh blueprint of the Sparrow and frantically began scribbling on it. Hiro strolled over and watched him. Slowly, he realized exactly what the alien man was getting at.

"You don't mean…"

"We'll meet in the middle! We'll use a mock-heno to trick the system into thinking the dimension is half the distance, then send out a sort of, as you coined it, 'fishing hook', to 'snare' the dimension closer to the portal." He finished the adjustments with one solid stroke. "There! That should do it."

Hiro was practically in shock from that. "Ama that's…"

There was a small pause before either one spoke again.

Ama blushed lightly. "It's stupid, isn't it?" He asked.

"Are you kidding?" Hiro yelled. "It's the opposite of stupid! It's brilliant! I couldn't have done that if I tried. Even if I did have the initial idea. I- I don't think anyone else could have."

There was a _long_ pause of silence after that.

"You think?" Ama asked in a small voice.

"I-I know." Hiro smiled at him. "Come on, we better get started if we want to finish before the month is up."

He held his fist up and Ama flinched. Hiro cocked an eyebrow at him, fist still in the air. Before too long, Ama's fist came up to meet his.

They both smiled.

_**Okay, sorry, sorry, sorry, SORRY! I know I took a long time to update. I joined a sort of dinner theater/haunted house thing and that took up a lot of my time. Before that there was always family in town. In between all this my family adopted another daughter, and uh, oh yeah! Our kitchen caught fire. That was all kinds of fun. I hope this chapter was long enough to make up for the delay. Love you guys. Read and review please!**_


	19. Chapter 19

_**This story has officially gotten a mind of its own. I'm a little scared of what I've created. This chappie is a bit longer than the others, so bear with me and enjoy. (Forgive the way Hiro is talking, he's not right in the head here)**_

Chapter Sixteen: Could it Get Any Worse?

When he finally woke up again, he was tied to a chair. That wasn't so bad, in and of itself. He ropes were a bit tight and the chair a bit hard, but he supposed that kind of thing was expected for someone in his position. He had a splitting headache where he got hit over the head, but again, not anything he hadn't expected. No, what was really bad was the person sitting next to him. Tied to another chair, face bloodied and marred, was Hiro.

Ama didn't know if it was the time he spent as Tadashi or his personality in general, but something inside him flare. Exactly what had Hiro done to deserve being here. Himself he understood, but Hiro was little more than a victim of circumstance. If anyone else had been called in to fix that Sparrow he probably would've taken the form of their long-dead loved one.

He took a deep breath to try and calm down. He tucked his anger in the back of his head and started to take stock of the situation. Hiro's face wasn't as bloody as he's first thought. There was really just a small stream of it coming from his temple. He was unconscious, as far as Ama could tell. The ropes didn't seem to be cutting off any circulation, so that was a plus, at least.

He turned his attention to the room around him. Cement, gray, bleak, no windows, one door, and a camera in every corner. Great. Just perfect.

The door opened, suddenly, startling him from his thoughts. A man who looked exactly like Hiro walked through, the only difference being an evil smirk playing on his lips and the Galcamoorz clothing on his person.

"Well, well, well." Not-Hiro said. "Little Amarrdon finally woke up."

"Who-who are you?" Ama croaked. "What's your name?"

The Not-Hiro tsked. "your voice is pretty scratchy Amarrdon, best save it for later, eh?" he smirked. "To answer your question, my name is Tehenoplate. Teheno, (Te-Hen-O) for short. You might have heard of me."

Had he ever. Tehenoplate was one of the group who'd mad the mistake of impersonating a Jhog commander's council. It was what had gotten their planet blown up in the first place. Tehenoplate was one of the ones who wasn't sorry about it.

"Oh! That's a mighty fine amount of hate pouring off you." Teheno pulled another chair out from the hall and closed the door. "I gather you don't like me much."

Ama didn't say anything, not trusting himself not to dig a deeper hole than he was already in. Teheno sat down in the chair and propped his feet on Ama's lap, put his hands behind his head and leaned back.

"It's a nice form, this one." He nodded at Hiro. "Much better than that Jhog suit I was forced to wear for that ever so boring job on their home world."

Ama grit his teeth. "That 'ever so boring job' cost the lives of many good people. Maybe if you weren't such a psychopathic adrenaline junkie you'd actually feel something."

Teheno's smirk grew. "There's the Ama they all talked about. Nice to meet you at long last."

Ama took another deep breath. "Why are you here?"

Teheno tsked again. "Tut, tut. I think you'll find I'm the one asking questions here."

So it's an interrogation, then. Ama thought. But why?

They sat there in silence for a long time, Ama glaring at Teheno, the latter smirking at Ama. Every muscle in Teheno's body oozed an 'I know something you don't know' aura. It made Ama want to scream, which he figured was the point. Vaguely, he wondered if Teheno was the one who'd met him in the ally.

Their standoff went on, dragging minutes into hours, until they heard a soft moan by Ama's side.

\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\/\/

Ow, ow, and double ow. Getting hit in the head and knocked out wasn't nearly as fun as movies made it out to be. Not that they'd made it seem fun in the first place. Hiro's head ached and the side of his face was wet. Had he landed in something when he went down? It was hard to tell. Everything felt so fuzzy, even his memories.

He opened his eyes a crack, regretting it almost instantly when they were met with a blinding white light. He blinked dazedly, trying to comprehend his surroundings. He was tied to a chair in a cement room next to Tadashi, who was also tied up and had the feet of Hiro's twin brother in his lap.

Hiro shook his head a bit. He didn't remember having a twin brother. And how did Tadashi get here, wasn't he…

Hiro's head really hurt now.

He tried to tell his clone to get off his brother, but only succeeded in mumbling "G' 'ff 'im." Which he was sure sounded as intelligent to the other two as it did to him.

His clone smirked. "I suppose being hit in the head with a full portion of my strength would addle you humans a bit, wouldn't it?"

"Hiro? Are you all right?" Tadashi asked gently.

"It'sss 'ine." Hiro slurred. "'m fine. 'ead 'urts a bit. 'Ut I'm jusssss 'ine."

Tadashi glared at the Hiro clone. "Why did you bring him here, he has nothing to do with this!"

Hiro's clone examined his fingernails. "Quite the contrary. We needed a bit of leverage against you. He's the only one you seemed close enough to to work. Plus, he was the only one who was alone. Easy pickings."

Hiro could see Tadashi straining against his restraints. "It's not easy pickings, you low-life. He's only a kid, he-"

"'Scuse me?" Hiro interjected. "Imma same age as you, 'm not a kid. Innit weeeeird? I gus I caugh up to you, uh?"

There was a small pause, then Hiro's clone laughed, while Tadashi seemed to be figuring out how to react. When he was done laughing, the clone stood up. With a surprising amount of speed, he tilted Tadashi's chair and slammed it into the wall.

"Little Hamada over there seems to be suffering from blunt force trauma or something." He chuckled darkly. "You best give my boss what he wants or he'll be suffering from a whole lot worse."

Tadashi gulped visibly. "Wha- what does he want?"

The clone's smile curved p towards his ears. "Follow me and you'll find out."

/\\\\\\\\\/\\\\\\\/\\\\\/\\\/\

The walked down a long, narrow hall, Ama's wrists still bound. Despite his protests, Hiro had stayed in the cement room while they went to meet 'the boss.' Leverage, apparently, meant he'd stay where they knew it would hurt Ama most. Right now, that meant having him be half out of his wits, alone, and with no idea of what was going on.

Teheno led him down the long, winding corridor, not seeming to care if Ama was following or not. Maybe he trusted that Ama wouldn't get far. Or maybe he figured his curiosity and need to protect Hiro would outweigh the need to escape. He was probably right on that count.

They passed an innumerable amount of doors, each of which looked the same. Ama briefly wondered if that meant Teheno was leading him the long way so he'd get lost if he tried it on his own. Before he had too much time to dwell on this, however, they reached a large, ornate oak double door that he supposed was their destination.

Sure enough, Teheno pushed open the door as soon as they reached it. On the other side was a room that looked like a cross between a throne room and the control deck of a spaceship. There were large panels of computers on either side of the room, often winding around large pillars. In the center stood a large statue of a man with chiseled features. Surrounding it were what Ama could only describe as hologram screens. And at the very end of the room sat a large throne surrounded by screens. On it sat a man only slightly less perfectly proportioned as the statue.

When he saw Ama and Teheno he raised a single hand in the air. All of the workers that had previously escaped Ama's notice suddenly stopped and began to filter out of the room. Once they were all gone, the man gestured for the two of them to come closer.

As they neared, Ama got a better look at 'the boss.' He was tall, but not freakishly so. He had salt and pepper hair and a long pointed beard in the same color. The most disturbing thing, however, were his eyes. They were cold and blue and glittered with intelligence. Just looking at them made Ama want to crawl away.

Teheno shoved him to the ground once they reached the throne. "Brought him, boss. Just like you said to."

The man leered down at the two of them. "And he understands the…terms of his stay?"

Teheno nodded.

"Good." The man purred. "Perhaps you are wondering why I had you brought here, Amarrdon."

"The thought may have crossed my mind." Ama grumbled.

"You see, I knew you wouldn't come willingly, but I just had to see you again."

"Look Kilimni, I don't have time for your games." Ama snapped. "I left for a reason, and I expect you to accept that."

The man on the throne chuckled. "Oh, I'm not Kilimni. He took a rather permanent leave of absence a few months ago. I'm the new head. And you know me, all too well. "

Slowly, shock and realization set into Ama's brain. It couldn't be. He had died in the fire. Hadn't he?

"Litrzoua?" he asked slowly.

The man's smile broadened. "Hello again, little brother."

_**Dun-Dun-Duhhhhhhhh! Sorry for the OC heaviness, it was a necessary evil. You know what they say; "In fanfiction, anthyding can hadplen." Apparently that is including, but not limited to, stories completely taking over their own creation and possibly turning on their creator.**_


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty: Bittersweet Epilogue

Honey rested a hand on Hiro's shoulder. The eighteen year-old was currently slouched over his desk, fast asleep. The blonde pulled a blanket over him, sighing quietly at his antics.

She had only stopped by to deliver some brownies to the café. How she continuously got roped into worrying about this tiny nut job was beyond her. Not that she really minded. He'd been working really hard on something ever since he got back from that underground lab, and didn't seem inclined to let any of them in on it.

As she tried to get a pillow under him she accidently knocked a blueprint out from under him. Curious, she picked it up.

It was wrinkled and looked like it had been repeatedly shoved in someone's jacket. There were complex equations and formulas scrawled all over it, to the point that it was barely a blueprint at all. Honey was about to put it back on the desk when the words on the top caught her eye.

_Sparrow Time Machine Formula_

Time machine? She wondered. Why would Hiro be trying to build a time machine?

Her eyes widened as it clicked.

Tadashi.

Hiro was going to try and get him back. Only this time, for real. And, with any luck, for good.

_**And with that, Of Brothers and of Clones (aka 5 Years Later) is brought to a close. Thanks to all of you for sticking with me while I spat out this half-baked story. **_

_**I did try to bring everything full circle here, too. I did originally have bigger plans for the epilogue, but it got really hard to picture, so A) I'm sorry this is so short and B) enjoy this cute scene in Honey-Lemon's POV. I may later (way, way, way, way later) write a one-shot of Tadashi coming out of the portal, but it's just a maybe right now. **_

_**Thanks again for all of your Follows, Favorites, and most of all your Reviews. Those always make my day! I plan on writing a lot more fics for a lot more fandoms so tune in whenever.**_

_**I love and appreciate you all. Sincerely –MagicQuill42**_


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